MEXICO CITY — A series of violent confrontations in Tamaulipas, a northern state in Mexico bordering Texas, resulted in the deaths of three police officers and four alleged members of a drug cartel, according to officials on Wednesday.

Five additional police officers sustained injuries during the multiple shootouts that occurred along highways near the town of San Fernando.

On Tuesday, cartel gunmen established makeshift roadblocks and targeted police patrols in the region. Later that same day, they attacked a funeral convoy transporting the body of one of the victims from the initial assault.

The local security office confirmed the fatalities on Wednesday; however, details regarding the condition of the injured officers have not been disclosed.

San Fernando lies approximately halfway between Ciudad Victoria, the state capital, and the border cities of Matamoros and Reynosa.

Historically, San Fernando has been infamous for some of the most brutal episodes in Mexico’s drug war, particularly during 2010 and 2011. During that time, cartel members committed heinous acts, including the murder of 72 migrants, many hailing from Central America, and carrying out the brutal execution of around 122 bus passengers who were forcibly taken off buses to fight one another to the death using sledgehammers.

The region of Tamaulipas is largely controlled by the Gulf cartel as well as the former Zetas cartel, which now identifies itself as the Cartel del Noreste.

On the same day, in the neighboring state of Sonora, cartel members carried out an assault that claimed the life of a police detective and left two more wounded. This incident involved the suspects deliberately crashing into a police vehicle.

The event unfolded early Wednesday on a roadway leading to the border town of Sasabe, which is situated to the west of Nogales, Arizona. Additionally, a Mexican marine was injured during the attack, although all individuals hurt were reported to be in stable condition.

Authorities were pursuing an SUV with its headlights off when the suspects first collided with the detectives’ patrol cars and then targeted a unit of Mexican marines before unleashing gunfire. In response, law enforcement personnel returned fire, resulting in the deaths of three suspects. This area has become a significant hub for the smuggling of both drugs and migrants.